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July 18, 2016

There’s a mountain at the foothills of the Pyrenees that we can see from our living-room window, and on that mountain is an organic blueberry farm. The Domaine Xixtaberri is open to the public for about one month in the year at the beginning of July, when blueberries are in season. We went there with a couple of friends and what a delight it was! Rows after rows of blueberry bushes bursting with juicy berries. I think that we probably ate nearly as many blueberries as we picked to take back home, but it was impossible to resist! This makes a perfect day out with children, who can help to the task and learn about how the fruits grow. Although too little to help us, our little man was on my back and didn’t fail to want to join in, pulling leaves from the trees as we went along!

We came home with nearly 3kg of blueberries, and at €4.70 a kilo of organic berries, this was not only a bargain, but also such a pleasure to support local farmers and experience a day out like no other.

We froze a large bag of them as a keeper for the rest of the year when not in season, and we’re still going through the rest, enjoying them in smoothies, tarts, jam, etc.

Here today, I wanted to share a very simple recipe for a baked skillet pancake that we had at the weekend. It can be thrown together in a couple of minutes, doesn’t take very long to cook either and makes a very special breakfast, best enjoyed with maple syrup and fresh fruits.

1.Preheat the oven to 190˚C.
2.In a large bowl, mix the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and salt.
3.In another bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, vanilla extract and vanilla seeds. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well with a whisk.
4.Heat the coconut oil in a skillet on the hob. Add half the blueberries, then pour the batter over and add the rest of the blueberries on top. Cook for about 5min on a medium heat, until starting to set, then transfer to the oven and cook for another 10-15min, until the pancake is completely set.
5.Serve cut into squares, along with maple syrup, yogurt, fresh fruits or any other topping of your choice.

July 07, 2016

Summer time is here and there's no better meal for this time of year than a good salad! I love creating big bowls of goodness with fresh and seasonal ingredients, often no-fuss and always easily portable. An important point because we tend to go on picnics on a weekly basis and salads are the perfect dish to take along and share. I browsed through previously posted recipes on the blog the other day and thought that you might like a little recap of my nine best summer salad recipes. I’d love to read about your favourite summer salads too so feel free to write a line or two in the comments section below to share them. Happy summer, yay!